


on the road (a lifetime's journey)

by credencesgrxves



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Non-graphic injuries, but its pretty much all fluff, itty bits of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/credencesgrxves/pseuds/credencesgrxves
Summary: Miklan and Glenn run away from Faerghus, from all of it's drama, and find themselves in a small town in the middle of nowhere. When they convene at an inn to rest, they may leave with one more person than they arrived with.
Relationships: Glenn Fraldarius/Miklan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12
Collections: Fire Emblem Rare Pair Christmas Exchange 2019





	on the road (a lifetime's journey)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enamuko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enamuko/gifts).



“For someone so smart, you’re incredibly dumb, you know that?” Glenn smiled wanly, as he unrolled a length of gauze from the spool it was wound around. The scratchy fabric was a much lower quality than what he was used to dealing with, on the not-uncommon occurrence that he or Felix nicked themselves when training. Though, that was a past life now, and he has to let it go.

“Oh, yeah? I distinctly remember doing this for you not so long ago, Mr. Swordsmaster. Ow, fuck! Watch how hard you’re pressin’!” Miklan flinched away, the alcohol sting of the soaked bandage, a necessary evil when neither of them were very good at faith magic. 

“I’m sorry, Mik, but you know I’ve gotta press down to make sure nothing gets infected before we can stop by in a village where we won’t be recognised,” Glenn sighed deeply, “and I fear that may be longer than either of us wish, given the uproar in Fhirdiad over our… deaths.”

Miklan shook his head, careful not to jostle himself against Glenn’s hand, pressing that sting against his skin again, “I know, I know, it just doesn't feel all too nice, s’all...”

Glenn’s face broke out in a grin, and Miklan felt a cold sweat form on his back all of a sudden. He began to back away, this time with purpose, but it was too late. Glenn pounced, and Miklan immediately began to squirm away under his lover, but injured and tired as he was, not even his superior bulk could throw his lover off of him. Through the haze of the tickling, that had him squirming and gasping for air despite the pain of those actions, all Miklan could think on incredulously, was the fact that Glenn was his lover.

Glenn Aurelius Fraldarius, in line to be Duke Fraldarius, one of the most powerful families in Faerghus, bar his own, had thrown his entire life away to be with him, a disgraced and dishonoured disinherited crestless disappointment. And yet, those thoughts felt wrong to have in the face of Glenn’s near blinding love. Each and every day when Miklan awoke, whether it be on the forest floor, in a cave, travelling caravan, or under a makeshift shelter, he was faced with the peace and passion that radiated from his lover at all times, even in his sleep.

Glenn’s tickles stopped gradually, his hands going from writhing against his neck and armpits, to gently stroking along his body. Miklan shuddered. He was injured, and Glenn was exhausted, this wasn’t the time for anything to go beyond innocent affection, not yet anyway.

“Hey babe, what are you thinking about?” Glenn was above him now, knees either side of his hips on the bedroll, smiling down at him beatifically.

“Nothing much, just about how much I love you.” Miklan responded, his face deadpan.

Glenn flushed an alluring pale pink, only highlighting the moles on his left cheek, blushing up to his ears. “Truly?” his voice was almost a whisper, and it occurred to Miklan then that Glenn was the one in awe of him. 

Miklan surged up then, nearly knocking Glenn off of him, and narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with his lover’s nose. Bringing his hands up, ignoring the pain that twanged painfully in his side as he moved, Miklan cupped Glenn’s jaw with both hands, and looked into his softer-than-life forget-me-not blue eyes. “With all my heart, and more. Powers above know where I would be without you.”

That prompted a startled laugh from Glenn’s throat, that would have registered to others that didn’t know him like Miklan did as a harsh bark, but Miklan knew it to be terribly genuine. “Based on today? Laying in a field and whining for me, darling.” 

Miklan smiled indulgently. “I’m always whinin’ for you, babe. Part and parcel of who I am, love havin’ you around, always.”

Glenn leaned forward slowly, and Miklan closed his eyes. Expecting a kiss, his eyes opened at the sensation of his lover’s nose rubbing against his, gently. Glenn was so fond of these little pseudo-kisses, and yet the tenderness of them always shook Miklan to his core, and always made him think of Glenn as being so alike to a cat. 

An image of Glenn, kneeling in front of a rustic fireplace on a rug, hands skittering across the fuzzy surface with a little kitten chasing them and biting and scratching them gently flashed in Miklan’s mind, and his chest became tight, heart beating a tad faster as warmth suffused him, travelling from his chest to his hands and feet, and his cheeks, that flushed pink beneath his freckles and scar.

Miklan moved his hands away from Glenn’s face and wrapped his arms around his lover’s back, hugging him tight to his body. Miklan barely registered Glenn’s slight noise of shock, a barely enunciated ‘wha…?’ before he buried his face in Glenn’s neck, nuzzling at the small bit of skin exposed between his hairline and the collar of his jacket. Pushing his face against the soft fur, Miklan mumbled something into the thick material.

“What was that, love? You ain’t gonna get anywhere mumbling into my shoulder like a baby.”

Miklan lifted his head from Glenn’s shoulder and huffed out a sigh, donning an exaggerated pout that pulled his lips far further down than any conventional facial expression. He could hear the small snicker Glenn gave at him, and pouted harder for effect.

“I was just sayin’ d’you think we could maybe find a village soon?”

“Miklan, you know I want to get you better as fast as-”

“No, not for that. Just wanna be able to lie in bed with you for once, rather than on the floor or huddling for warmth out of necessity. Wanna be cosy for a night in your arms, s’all...” Miklan shrugged, casting his eyes away from the earnest searching of Glenn’s gaze. 

Glenn’s voice melted from where it had formed icy shards of exasperation, “Mik… You’re so sweet.” A prompt and chaste kiss was pressed to his lips, and before Miklan could think on deepening it, Glenn had pulled back. “I promise we’ll find a village soon, somewhere we can truly rest, and take time to ourselves to move on. We’re far enough away from Faerghus now that we shouldn’t be recognised, and if we are we can always make a run for it...”

Glenn blinked as Miklan swept his hair away from his forehead, and flushed bright red at the resounding wet smack of a kiss that landed upon it.

“Love ya babe!” 

As Miklan attempted to move off the bedroll, Glenn grabbed his arm as roughly gentle as he could.

“Oh no, mister. Don’t think that exempts you from medical work. Sit your ass back down.”

A grumbled ‘damnit’ was all Miklan said as he heavily sat back down on the edge of the bedroll.

  


Eventually, they’d travelled far enough south that the climate had started to change from the mild dampness of Faerghus’ early summer, to weather that made them squint into the horizon, shielding their eyes and fanning themselves through their thick furs and armour.

“Shit, ya don’t really realise how cold Faerghus is ‘til ya leave, huh?”

Glenn turned to his lover on top of the horses that they’d, for lack of a better word, stolen from a small village that they’d barely lingered in to get supplies. They’d left in the middle of the night, and were far enough away by now that none of the population, mostly children or the elderly, would be able to catch up with them. Glenn’s hair was wet and stringy, stuck to his forehead and damply curling at the back of his neck where it was tied.

“I’ll say, I’m roasting alive right now. According to the villagers though, there’s a town not too far from here, and if we don’t stop we can make it before it hits midday and gets even hotter.”

Miklan severely regretted letting his hair get like it did; unlike Glenn his face was fine, but his neck? He could quite literally feel the sweat sliding down his back, and if they stopped they were both pretty sure their horses wouldn’t want to start again.

And so they plodded on, unable to push the weak mares to anything beyond a canter, and even then that was limited as to how far they could carry grown men in furs and armour, so going was slow.

“Hey, is that…?” Glenn looked up from where he had fixated his gaze on his reins, studying the ancient cracked leather, and what he saw made him want to weep. Not too far in front of them, maybe a couple of miles away, were buildings. Actual stone buildings, not villagers’ huts, and the start of a cobblestone path, indicating their arrival in civilisation. The building style was unfamiliar; the buildings not being as uniform as they were in Faerghus, easily distinguishable despite their distance away.

With a quick glance at each other, Miklan and Glenn nodded, and kicked their heels against their horses’ flanks, while whipping the reins. Both mares whinnied loudly and took off, faster than they ever had in this couple day stretch from village to town, seemingly just as excited to have the two riders using them off their backs as their riders were to bed down in an actual town for the first time in months.

The sudden burst of energy from their mounts tapered off as the town drew closer, and as the road beneath their horses’ hooves began to change from well-trodden dirt to strategically placed cobbles, Glenn and Miklan found themselves dismounting and removing the heavy bags from the mares’ saddles. Without any preamble, the mares left them, tiredly staggering off to the side of the road to eat, and Glenn and Miklan simply looked at each other and shrugged. They would have to procure a new method of travel soon. 

The locals stared at them, but did nothing much else, and both of them let out an inaudible sigh of relief. They hadn’t been recognised yet; they were far enough away to relax, for now. No doubt Rodrigue would have sent out people looking for him, or his body, and they would be diligent in the search for Heir Fraldarius. But with the sun shining high over head, the smell of bread and market stall food and fresh air encapsulating their senses, months of survival borne tension drained from Glenn and Miklan’s bodies. 

“Hey, d’you wanna go to the market and get some food?”

Glenn snorted, “With what goddess damned money, Mik? We’re broke now.” Shaking his head, Glenn turned to his lover. “It’s best if we find a place to stay for a couple of nights, and see if anyone around here needs odd jobs doing for some pay. That way we can replenish our non-perishable foods and get a meal or two in us.”

“Yeah, true. I just wanna be able to get you things and shit, Glenn. Wanna be able to spoil you.”

Glenn’s regular hardened expression softened a little, the slope of his eyebrows relaxing and the near permanent furrow of his forehead relaxed a bit. “I know you do darling, and we can try to do that to each other when we have a more stable footing. For now we need to sort out the necessities of the here and now.”

Glenn moved away and walked up to a local, asking where they could find lodgings for a couple of days. The man seemed surprised by him; by his Fhirdiad accent and expensive clothing and armour, but simply nodded him down to further down the main street, saying that there was a good pub and inn combination towards the centre of town that was pretty cheap, but served decent ale. With that, Glenn nodded to Miklan, and they began to walk through the town.

After getting lost several times, trying to search for an inn sign and asking directions sheepishly from locals, Glenn and Miklan finally found the inn that the original local that they had asked had told them about. It was quite quaint looking, compared to the buildings that Fhirdiad boasted; but then, so was everything when compared to the capital city. Rough hewn stone in irregular shapes with mortar between them piled up high to a 2 story building, that in hindsight was the most notable building in this part of town, and both Glenn and Miklan decided to not grill each other on not being able to find it, as it would be pure hypocrisy by this point. Goddess, they must be exhausted,

They both walked in, and the inside of the building was dark and rustic, hardwood panelled floors and the exposed stonework providing a calm and warm feeling to the main room, and a quick cast of their gazes around brought them to the main desk.

“Can we get a room for two, please?”

The clerk didn’t respond for a second, bent under the desk and whispering hurriedly.

“Excuse me?”

She popped up suddenly, her hair in messy wisps from her ponytails and dark bags under her eyes. “Sorry about that, gentlemen, I was just dealing with Ellie here,” with that the inn-keep gestured to a little girl that had been formerly hidden under the desk with deep auburn hair and bright blue eyes, “she’s an orphan so I try and take care of her as much as possible, but its hard. Anyway, that was a room for two, yes?”

Glenn and Miklan looked at each other for a second. “Uh, yes, yes it was. How much is it for a week?”

The inn-keep’s face brightened somewhat, “Oh, planning on taking in the sights? Not that there’s many, but this is a rather pretty place in general! Its about 300 gold for a week for two, lads, but that does include free-board breakfast each day. Is that to your liking?”

Glenn and Miklan erred for a second, before nodding. It wasn’t like they could continue staying in the wild, not with Miklan’s injury. Glenn passed a pouch of coins over and as the inn-keep counted them, he handed over the rest that she needed. Nodding to herself, the inn-keep turned away from them and grabbed a rusted key, with a paper label tied to it, a faded “12” written on both sides.

“Here you are sirs! Room twelve is up the left staircase at the end of the hall, enjoy your stay!”

They began to walk off, before Glenn stopped in his tracks and turned back around. “Excuse me, would you know of any faith healers in town? My lo- companion here is injured, and I am rather useless at the craft.”

The inn-keep tapped at her chin, “Hmm, I’m not too sure actually? You could always try the church close to the centre of town, but I can honestly say I don’t know if there’s any trained healers there...”

Glenn smiled tightly. “No worries, ma’am, thank you.”

As they plodded up the stairs, the events of the past few months now showing on their countenances, Glenn and Miklan fell into step beside each other in the narrow hallway. 

“Mik, did you see that little girl behind the counter?”

“Yeah? What about her?”

Glenn stopped walking and tugged Miklan aside, letting the man who’d walked up behind them pass. As the man grunted a thanks and walked past, Glenn ducked his head to Miklan’s ear.

“She reminds me of Lyxie, Mik! She’s so small, but she’s got that fire in her, I can tell...”

Miklan shook his head. “What are you thinkin’ of?”

Glenn looked down at the floor, biting his lip, an action so unusual of his lover that Miklan immediately grew wary. 

“Glenn?”

Heaving in a rush of air, Glenn blew it out with his request, “Whatifwetookherwithus?”

Miklan frowned, brow creased. “What’d you say? Slow down a bit, I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”

Calming himself down, Glenn tried again. “I said, what if we took her with us?”

Miklan blinked and flinched back slightly, the furrow in his brow only deepening. “...Why? I mean, we got enough money troubles as is and we’re on the road so much that it’ll just be too much for her.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t seem like she has much of a life here! Just think, what would have you done if someone came along when you were a kid and said they’d take you with them and you’d get to leave everything behind, only that it would be a lot of travel?”

Miklan breathed out heavily. “...I would’ve said yes, you know I would’ve. That was a low blow.”

“I’m sorry, darling, but can’t you see what I mean? We could make her life so much better!”

Miklan turned and started walking down the hall to where their room was. “I can see what you’re sayin’, but can we think on it? Maybe talk in the morning? We both need some rest.”

Glenn nodded, and began to follow after him. “Yeah! Yeah, we can. Sorry for bringing that up out of nowhere, but I really think we can help her.”

Miklan smiled. “Maybe we can, but we gotta think first.”

Glenn cracked a small laugh. “Who would’ve thought I’d be hearing that from Miklan Gautier of all people? Telling me to think first, as if this,” Glenn lightly slapped his pal against Miklan’s upper arm, revelling in the hiss and pretend glare it got from his lover, “wasn’t the result of you rushing in head first to a battle that could’ve been avoided?”

“Yeah, yeah, you got a point there...” Miklan grumbled. As they came up to their room, Glenn fumbled with the key in his hand and inserted it into the rusty lock, wincing at the shriek of metal against metal as the catch came loose. 

“Well, no sneaking out at night, I guess.”

Miklan snorted. “Yeah, you can say that again.”

The door swung open inwards to a dull room. Well, it's not like they’d paid a fortune for a week’s stay; the walls were the same rough hewn stone as the rest of the building, and the floors were made of warped hardwood, just like the downstairs was. The decorations were Spartan, but they’d do; two small single beds, which they’d have to push together, a dresser and mirror, and a goddess-knows-how-old bathtub in the corner furthest from the door. In all honesty, combined with the fact they were paying for breakfast as well, they were pretty satisfied with their accommodation.

“So, do you wanna get the beds sorted before we piss off the neighbours by movin’ shit or?”

“Yeah, sounds good, lets get it done out of the way.”

Dumping their bags by the door that was then promptly shut, Glenn and Miklan walked around to the outer side of either bed and braced themselves against the surprisingly sturdy wooden frames. With a nod to each other, they began to push, Miklan’s bed moving more towards Glenn’s than the other way around. A horrid creaking shriek echoed around their room as wood slid against wood, catching on each little groove and crack, forcing both of them to give it their all with little shoves and grunts drowned out by the cacophonous chorus of noise.

Finally their beds rested against each other, the frames flush together and leaving only a negligible gap between the mattresses. “Dear Goddess, that was a fucking horrible noise.” Glenn panted, resting himself against the mattress and wiping his forehead with a hand.

“Ugh, I really need to bathe, but I’m so tiiiiired...” 

Miklan stifled a laugh at his lover’s expense. “Take a bath in the mornin’ then, problem solved. I wanna sleep too so you won’t be gettin’ no help from me.”

“Oh, thanks, my dear lover, my darling, the love of my life, thank you so much for not offering to help with my bath.”

A laugh escaped him after all in the face of Glenn’s false indignation. “Shut ya trap and get undressed. Plus, I’m injured jackass, I couldn’t do shit to help anyway.” 

Miklan unbuckled the straps to his light armour on top of his clothing; his older bulkier armour was a no-go, not when travelling so far, and he’d felt naked without it for a while. As each piece fell off with a resounding ‘thud’, Miklan found himself stretching out, wincing as little nicks and bruises and cuts stretched with him, hissing as the wound on his arm pulled uncomfortably as he rolled his shoulders. 

“Need to get this looked at, Mik. We can go to church tomorrow when we’ve had breakfast.”

“Yeah, yeah, now get undressed, Princess.”

Glenn snorted. “Weren’t you the one stopping sex because you’re injured? And now you’re coming onto me? Well, well, what a scandal we have here, Mr. Gautier.”

Miklan felt his face flush with heat, and knew he was bright red. Curse his complexion. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know I didn’t.”

“I know,” Glenn singsonged, as he unbuckled his much lighter leather armour from atop his furs, “I just like watching you suffer.” At this, Glenn tossed one of his belts and snickered as it hit his lover square in the face. 

“Hey! What was that for, asshole?” Miklan clutched the belt in his hand and then tossed it aside, not caring that it landed in his clothing pile and that Glenn would whine at him in the morning for it.

“I just said I like watching you suffer, that includes me being a nuisance to you, darling.”

Miklan shakes his head, smiling at Glenn’s antics. Many people had called his lover rude, cold, and sarcastic. And while they were absolutely right, he was also very sweet to those he loved. He knew deep down that they’d end up taking the little girl with them, but Glenn needed a voice of reason every now and again, much like he himself did, even if neither of them liked to admit it.

Both dressed down to their undergarments, they pulled the sheets out and layered them double over the two beds, lifted them up, and crawled underneath them. Scooting closer to each other, Miklan found himself as the little spoon, Glenn curling around his back and burying his face in his hair, while his feet played with Miklan’s shins.

Glenn smoothed his hand over Miklan’s bandaged shoulder, gentler now than before, similar to when he’d patched it up earlier. 

“We’ll get this sorted, and then we’ll look for some work, and try and make something of this, yeah?” The question seemed inexorably loud now that they were lay so close together, breath fanning over skin, hands rubbing at each other so slowly.

“Yeah, we will. We’ll sort this out, we’ll make something good of ourselves.”


End file.
